1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed towards a paint roller assembly structured for the painting of a chain link fence or like structure formed of inter-engaging wire strands wherein the structural configuration of the roller cover is such as to accomplish substantially surrounding engagement of the roller with each of the wire strands defining the chain link structure and thereby requiring the painting of only one side of the chain link fence or like structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the painting industry the use of the hand-held roller is extremely popular and has certain major advantages over utilizing conventional brushes. The advantages of utilization of a roller is particularly recognized when painting a large substantially flat surface area such as walls or ceilings. The use of the brush is more advantageous for use in painting intricate structures or hard to reach locations involving corners, surface junctions, crevices, etc. Generally speaking, the roller assembly is faster and provides an even distribution of the paint over the surface being covered.
The paint roller has enjoyed such wide acceptance that attempts have been made in the prior art to structurally modify the conventional roller assembly in order to overcome certain of its generally recognized disadvantages. More specifically, paint rollers have been developed which include texturized outer surface covering wherein a pattern or texturized appearance can be painted on a given surface area. Prior art paint roller structures of this type are disclosed in the U.S. patent to Jannsen, U.S. Pat. No. 4,191,792. Similarly, the U.S. patent to Schulze, U.S. Pat. No. 3,274,637 is specifically structured to paint large surface areas such as walls or ceilings while at the same time is specifically structured to reach generally hard to paint locations such as corners or junctions.
Despite the advances made in th prior art paint roller structures, it is still apparent that there are certain applications for which a paint roller is less than totally efficient. Such structures include a chain link fence or similar structure formed from inter-engaging strands of wire or like material. While such a chain link structure is capable of being painted by what may be considered conventional paint roller assemblies, such a painting process is generally considered to be inefficient due to the waste of paint and the necessity of repeatedly covering portions of the chain link structure defined by the irregularly displaced and overlapping and inter-engaging wire strands.
In an attempt to overcome such problems, the prior art was advanced by the invention disclosed in the U.S. patent to Evensen, U.S. Pat. No. 2,866,995, directed to a paint roller for woven wire fences. The Evensen structure while apparently operable for the intended application is formed in part from a material which may have questionable coating characteristics in terms of coating the entire exterior surface of the individual wire strand forming the chain link structure especially when applying the roller to only one side of the chain link structure or fence.
Accordingly, there is still a need in the prior art relating to paint roller assemblies for a preferred paint roller assembly capable of efficiently and effectively painting chain ink fences by coating the irregular disposed and interengaging wire strands by applying the paint bearing roller to only a single side thereof and further wherein such a preferred paint roller structure is formed from a material capable of retaining paint and subsequently transferring the paint to the chain link structure in an efficient manner. Further, the preferred paint roller assembly should be capable of being disassembled and removed from the roller base such that the size of various components comprising the roller assembly may be adjusted and the entire roller assembly can be readily cleaned.